


Sleepless

by mynameissrain



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Makes Puns, Chat Noir/Ladybug Fluff, Fluff, Hurt Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Nightmares, Post-Episode: s03 Chat Blanc, Sad Marinette Dupain-Cheng
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:22:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21708925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mynameissrain/pseuds/mynameissrain
Summary: Marinette is chased by the memory of Chat Blanc. Sleepless, she goes out for a walk and has a... Paw-some company.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 6
Kudos: 186





	Sleepless

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



_She still heard his broken voice, deranged in the distance, glued to her skin, between the seams of her suit, as dense and suffocating as smoke._

_The sweet color of the sunset slipped over her suit, her heart beating against the vulnerable skin of her throat, her lungs burning. She had been running away for too long._

_"My lady, don't run away! How can you abandon this kitten? You don't love me anymore?" The distant voice mocked, incorporating laughter entangled in his vocal cords._

_How could he believe that? How could Gabriel make him say something like that? How? How could she let all this happen?_

_Her feet went slowly having her footsteps becoming dense and slow until she stood with her back to the mockery that was chasing her._

_A gentle breeze caressed her face, realizing then, when she felt a cold moisture against her cheeks, she was crying. Only God knew since when._

_A slight noise and a jingle behind her announced his arrival._

_"Excuse me, princess, but I'm a little tired of playing mouse and cat. How about we stop playing games and you give me your miraculous?" He suggested. The softness in his words burned her lips._

_"I'm sorry, Chat Noir, but you know I can't do that." Ladybug murmured, still with her back to the white flash that was singing._

_A broken laugh escaped his lips, frightening the light breeze that comforted her. It was as if the world held its breath in surprise._

_"Come on Marinette, why don't you end the story? We all know you don't ..."_

_He fell silent._

_As if a gust had silenced him, as if his voice had gone out along with the last sunbeam._

_The darkness accompanied the silence in the sepulchral requiem toned by the stars in honor of all the fallen. The stars also being the only light in the middle of the night; the moon, destroyed by the uncontrollable devastation of Chat Blanc, rose, pale and dull high in the sky as a guiding temple for lost souls in Hawkmoth's cruelty._

_Only Ladybug's sobs broke into the delirious silence, waiting for his mockery to end._

_"What?" She barked, clenching her teeth, feeling the fabric of her suit protest as she dug her nails into her palms hard. "What is it that everyone knows !? Say it already, stupid arrogant cat!" Her sobs, strangled, spit out a rabid and beaten poison. "Go ahead, say it: we all know you couldn't do it."_

_"... Ladybug?"_

_Her mouth ran dry. Her heart containing the beats._

_Could that be...?_

_No._

_Chat Noir had been akumatized, it was impossible ..._

_She heard a trembling cough and leather bend._

_It couldn't be._

_It was impossible._

_Hawkmoth..._

_Hawkmoth... Had he really been destroyed with the transformation of Chat Blanc?_

_Maybe when Hawkmoth died... His magic died with him...?_

_"L-ladybug?" The voice called again._

_It sounded so much like him..._

_"Ladyb-bug, are you there? Please answer, please tell me you're fine ..." He begged, despair strangling his weak voice._

_It was him._

_It was Chat Noir._

_It had to be him._

_"Chat Noir?" She called, still without turning; facing where the Agreste mansion would have been._

_There was indescribable noise, lost along with the voice of Chat Noir. Fear seized her; What if she had replied too late?_

_"Chat?" She called again, scared._

_"Ladybug, down here!" He replied._

_Almost as if a soring had been activated, Ladybug ran, being only then aware of the constant tiredness and pain that consumed her muscles. Her body couldn't go any longer after the long battle against Chat Blanc, but she couldn't leave Chat Noir alone._

_Ladybug jumped from the edge of the building sunk in the dark ocean of destruction that surrounded them. She threw her yoyo, hooking herself to the space that divided two broken windows and pulled, propelling herself into the building._

_She felt her heart on the back of her neck, beating hard, anguished._

_Her eyes adjusted to the even greater absence of light, barely differentiating apart furniture and objects scattered on the floor. She almost didn't notice the panting figure that laid on the floor._

_"Chat?" She called again, her voice barely a candle that, flickering, was consumed. "Chat ... Is that you? Are you alright?"_

_She heard him cough, and spit._

_"Ladybug, I need you to help me ..." Without thinking, she ran to him, kneeling beside him, cradling his trembling body in her lap._

_"Chat Noir, can you hear me?" His body burned, consumed by what looked like a terrible fever. His pale blue eyes and crystal like the two snowflakes got back his electric green color. His hair regained its warm golden color. His heart was beating so hard she felt it through his suit. He struggled to breathe. "Chat, you're freezing..."_

_She ran her hand over his face, brushing his warm lips. His eyes struggled to stay open, but a heavy dream seemed to pull them._

_He was sleeping._

_No, he wasn't falling asleep ..._

_"Chat" She insisted, her voice rising a few tones. Her heart shrinking. "Chat open your eyes, please!" She begged. Her hands hugged him, desperate. "Chat Noir!"_

_Soon his struggle to breathe gradually subsided until it vanished into the darkness of the moonless night. His body stopped clinging to her, and the tremor fell asleep. It was as if, finally, Chat Blanc had found peace to the anger and helplessness that had withered his heart in the warm smile of Chat Noir._

_The smile Ladybug would never see again. Never._

_"No ... No Chat, not you..." She sobbed, clinging to his partner's lifeless body, letting it be the cry to all that she had lost what filled the laconic silence that now hovered Paris. "Chat, wake up, it's not funny!" She felt the cry amounting at the base of her throat, getting tangled up in her vocal cords. "Chat Noir, we have to return all to normality, it's not time for your stupid jokes!"_

"Chat, no!"

Marinette woke up in her room. She was shaking, and at some point in the night she had begun to cry.

Tikki floated beside her; worried look and a grimace of sadness occupying her face.

"Sorry for waking you up, Marinette, but ..."

"I was dreaming again of Chat Blanc," she guessed, wiping the tears from her face.

"It is normal, Marinette. What happened with Chat Blanc won't be forgotten overnight. All Paris was destroyed and you were the only one left to restore everything ..." Tikki's voice tried to reassure her, sounding as motherly as she could.

"It's my duty as a hero, Tikki," she recalled, rubbing her eyes, trying to dispel the memory of Chat Blanc's broken smile.

"But you are supposed to have Chat Noir there to back you up, Marinette. Hawkmoth has taken a very low blow when attacking Chat Noir." Tikki growled.

Marinette sighed, discarding any chance of going back to sleep; knowing that if she slept the image of Chat Noir lying lifeless in her lap while she pronounced his name and begged him to open his eyes between broken tears, would chase her all night.

It had been three days since Chat Blanc, and therefore, it had been three days since Marinette slept for the last time. And people had begun to notice. 

Her parents didn't need to wait for her tutor's call to fall asleep repeatedly in class, but when they asked, she just said she was staying up late to study.

Chloe, of course, was the first one to make sure everyone noticed the zombie look she had, making terrible jokes and even more horrible comments. Alya, on the other hand, seemed to worroed, as did Nino and Adrien. Luka brought her teas to be able to fall asleep at night, and insisted on staying with her while Marinette took short naps to comfort her when the nightmares abruptly plucked her from her rest.

But still, she continued to find herself alone against Chat Blanc's menacing shadow and his chilling legacy.

She sighed, sliding off the bed.

"And what do you expect me to do, Tikki? I can't tell Chat Noir what happened, partly because I don't know what really happened!" She protested, going to the closet to find some clothes to wear.

Tikki added nothing, knowing she was right.

"I think I need fresh air ..." She muttered, brushing, thoughtful, her earrings. Tikki smiled halfway between a plaintive grimace and an honest smile.

“Night walk, Ladybug?” She joked, hovering around her with renewed energy.

Marinette stroked the little head of the kwami with her finger.

"If you're not too tired ..."

"Don't be silly, Marinette; I'm here for you!" Tikki insisted again, dancing around. Marinette smiled halfway and said the words: "Tikki, points out!"

* * *

The phantasmagoric light of the television highlighted their features; green reflection shone on the screen.

"Hey, it's not fair!" Plagg protested, jumping from a joystick to another. Adrien laughed, victorious, watching as the character of his kwami disintegrated in bloody pixels after a final attack.

Plagg crossed his arms and sat on the console control. The screen suggested a huge red sign that said "GAME OVER."

"I quit," he grumbled, making Adrien laugh even more. "I want a new chosen."

Adrian looked out the window; He hadn't realized how early it was. That game had them entertained since Plagg finished his dinner (always camembert).

It was then that a slippery red blur caught his attention. "Ladybug?" Adrien muttered. "I don't understand, there are no signs of Akuma's risk in the ladyblog ..."

"Maybe she just wants to see you." Plagg supposed from the couch.

He turned hopeful; a radiant smile adorning his lips "You think!?"

Plagg stretched out on the remote, using the left joystick as a pillow. "Who knows boy, this is a crazy world ..." Adrien growled, he didn't have time for the funny jokes of the kwami.

"There may be something wrong ... She may need help." Adrien recapitulated.

"Even Hawkmoth needs a restful sleep, boy." Joked again Plagg.

"Plagg, we have to see what's going on." He insisted, turning away from the window, looking down at the floor. "I know better than anyone how... Lonely you can feel on a parisian night ..."

Plagg groaned, rolling his eyes.

"Fine, you melodramatic fool... "He gave up.

As soon as Adrien spoke those words, a flash sprang from his ring, enveloping him with a blinding light as the leather spread over his skin.

His green eyes flashed as he looked one last time through the window before jumping into the void, extending his baton.

* * *

Her lips let out a slight warm sigh that condensed when it met the cold winter that Paris was wearing. Reflections of bright pink and green posters and street life glowed in the blue envelope of her sapphire eyes.

The daily tranquility of citizens was almost sick, knowing they were about to–

« _No, not "about"»_ she thought _. «They lost everything they loved and were; She lost everything she loved and was: Alya, her parents, Adrien, her other friends and her school. Chat Noir._ »

If it weren't because, in some miraculous way, she managed to return everything to normal and fixed the future, she would've been trapped in the temporal plane of a desolate future by an akumatized Chat Noir, only accompanied by the cruel mockery of her enormous failure that condemned all of Paris to witness and execute not only the death of the only hope of the universe but also of Ladybug and Marinette.

How could they even smile without falling apart? How could they continue with their lives when hers crumbled to re-sew them to her skin without any delicacy? How could they breathe when her seams suffocated her?

« _Because it is your job, Ladybug; stand firm and save the world. There is no time to fall apart._ »She told herself, feeling her mouth dry and tears gather again behind her eyes.

"And I considered myself a stray cat ..." a voice joked behind her, causing her to jump in a goosebump.

Ladybug turned to look at Chat Noir; His green eyes seemed to shine brighter when they were coupled with his simple smile.

However, as a cruel mockery; Like a mockery of Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams, the mad laugh of a broken Chat Blanc echoed in the back of her neck, freezing her vocal cords.

Unable to speak, chased by the shadow of her nightmares, Ladybug turned her back on her partner, focusing on the soluble headlights of the cars that crossed the roads. Chat Noir, confirming with her silence his fear that something was wrong, approached her.

"Hey, is everything all right?" he asked, picking up his baton and hanging it from his belt as he approached her. "Come on, My lady, you know you can tell me anything ..."

Ladybug had to chew a bitter laugh; « _Don't do it. It is not his fault, he doesn't deserve to bear with this._ »

While Chat Noir took a seat next to her, Ladybug leaned on her arms, which hugged her knees, finding refuge in the rough touch of her suit. She felt cold skin against the magic fabric, so she could imagine her cheeks red and cold. A real chaos.

  
Chat, silent next to her, watched her for just a few seconds until he resumed his previous task of contemplating the parisian traffic.

The tires could be heard touching the roads, the engines roaring and the traffic lights changing colors. But there was no soul walking down the street, leaving them with the silence of the reassuring absence.

He took a deep breath; the cold air filling his lungs, his chest tempting the flexibility of the leather of his suit as it expanded. There was something charming in the silence of a sleeping city; its sepulchral stillness, its sacred peace. All still, but with a latent life full of illusion and stories.

A ghost town. 

"Chat Noir, can I ask you a question?" She muttered, already regretting it. "And please ... No jokes ..." She tried.

Something in the speed at which the blood ran through his veins begged him to turn around, to look for her gaze, to try to reach her hand; but he knew that her pride would push him away, and, based on the softness of her voice, for a moment he feared that if he touched her she would decompose to ashes in his arms.

"Sure, my lady," he said, his green gems jumping from star to star, circling the moon.

Ladybug shrugged deeper into her own embrace, feeling an inner cold collaborate with the one that winter already provided.

"Do you think ...?" She was forced to interrupt herself and rephrase her question before taking a deep breath. She closed her eyes tightly, feeling her heart densify. "Do you think ... This will be forever?"

He had to admit it; that question caught him off guard.

"What do you mean by **_this_**?" Chat asked, frowning slightly. He felt every inch that separated them.

"To us. To Paris. To our lives, however they are ... Do you think we will always be able to fix everything?" Ladybug slowly opened her eyes, letting the lanterns be the ones that helped her focus.

Chat Noir let out a soft laugh fused with a hopeful sigh: "I hope that **_us_** is forever, sooner rather than later ..." He joked, smiling mischievously, making her growl. "Just kidding, my lady; Of course I KNOW this will be forever!" He exclaimed, his smile growing. "We are Ladybug and Chat Noir, bugaboo, fighting together we can face anything."

Ladybug cringed, her words stoning her tired heart.

« _If you only knew Chat ... How much you lose because of me ..._ »

"Sometimes you are better off alone than in bad company, Chat Noir ..." She sighed, raising her head again.

"What do you mean, my lady?"

Again, a great and heavy silence came between them.

Ladybug raised her face to the moon, letting its light caress the skin of her frozen cheeks. She couldn't believe that because of her, Chat Blanc had destroyed something as archaic and beautiful as the moon.

But this time Chat didn't let her carry the slab of silence on her trembling shoulders.

"Ladybug, what's this all about?" He asked, urgency in his voice.

"I'm not sleeping well lately ..." She explained, frowning slightly, still letting herself be embraced by the soft blanket of the moon.

Chat Noir frowned more exaggeratedly, convinced he had already gone through this.

"Have we had this conversation before?" He asked; Ladybug barely shrugged.

"Maybe you asked me the same over the last three days ..." She suggested.

Knowing that it was an exam period at his school, he could've said it before to Nino, or Alya, or ...

"Do you think I have the right to love, Chat Noir?" Ladybug asked; Emotions again tangled up between her vocal cords, making her voice sound strangled. She knew that Chat Noir was watching her when she heard the soft jingle of his rattle. "Do you think I should have the privilege of having beloved ones when everything can be broken down by a false step? Is it worth being part of my life on the premise that the slightest failure can be taken everything away from me?"

Chat Noir gradually saw the great storm unleash, leaving a sobbing and shaking Ladybug. Embracing herself, fearing that her prophecy would snatch herself too.

His heart collapsed in irregular rubble when he heard her desperate sob between hiccups. Tufts of the blue of the night clinging to her flushed cheeks, covered by dense tears.

Her sobs dampened against his muscular chest; two arms blossoming around her, pushing her into a strong hug; a hug to save her from falling apart. His lips brushed her hair as he comforted her. She felt Chat Noir's heart against her cheek.

A soft aroma of perfume and that rare essence that only had the air of Paris. Comforting, close, homely.

Chat Noir gave her a moment to pull away, to protest, to get away from him; but she only moved to cling desperately to him, unleashing her crying.

"Ladybug, I don't know what makes you think something like that, but I'm sure, whatever it is, you knew how to fix it and these are the side effects of carrying the weight of so many names on your shoulders ..." He whispered, narrowing his arms , making sure she didn't go cold. "I don't know what you're not telling me, and I'm not going to force you to tell me. I'm sure when the right time comes—"

"Chat Noir, I can't, not–" She tried to explain between cries.

"But yes; it is worth being part of your life. It is worth fighting by your side, Ladybug. It is worth falling a thousand times if you are going to be there to offer a hand." He interrupted, his voice softening, descending to almost a whisper.

Ladybug hugged him tighter, feeling the red of her cheeks burn her tears. A slight smile, shy and involuntary, gradually softened her face. His blond, almost golden locks caressed her nose, tickling her.

"You are amazing, Ladybug. You are not aware of how much I ..."

« _We both know that all this is because you don't love me! Who cares if I destroy everything !? You, me, Paris ... EVERYTHING!_ »

Ladybug pulled away from her hug, terrified by the lifeless voice of Chat Blanc. She looked at him in silence, icy tears gathering again behind her eyelids.

His feline eyes watched her; Chat Noir waiting, worried, her response to his statement.

"Chat" She called; so exhausted that it sounded more like a prayer. His green eyes flashed when he noticed the sadness and care in her voice. For a moment he thought of his mother's soft call. "Chat, I know that sometimes I've been very cold with you, but you know that I love you, right?" She questioned, her voice loaded with terrible sadness, as if all Paris had been burning behind her eyes. "You know how much I need you by my side, Chat, right?"

Chat Noir was unable to control the reddish shadow that tucked his cheeks.

"Of course I know, my lady," he assured with a sad and comforting smile.

They looked into each other's eyes; their hearts synchronized as the moon peeked through the clouds, and they weren't even aware.

"Chat?" Ladybug whispered, finally feeling the gloomy figure of Chat Blanc dissipate, fatigue invading her in waves.

"Yes, princess?" Chat replied, watching, feeling how her eyelids were closing slowly.

"Can you stay for a while?" She asked, her voice softening; her body slowly succumbing to fatigue.

Chat Noir smiled, stroking her silky blue hair, assuming this was the first time Ladybug had been sleeping for days.

"Always, bugaboo," he promised; stroking her hair. She had fallen asleep.

It was the first time that Marinette wasn't visited by Chat Blanc in her dreams.


End file.
